Blogs – Posts

CoderGals – Hackathon

On August 2017, there would be an event which would happen for the first time in one of the most beautiful cities of Kosovo, Prizren. This event would be one of the first of its kind, related to technology, coding and diversity. 

Given the experience I had during my exchange time in the U.S. as a STEM student, I had the chance to be part of different activities that I have never had heard before, and have never imagine how much you could learn from being surrounded by people from the same background as well as the ones from a different background.

Soon after coming back from the U.S. I was very eager to apply every detail that would improve the society I live in, starting from the program I was pursuing at that time, Information Technology. I was able to get the ultimate support from the U.S. Embassy in Pristina, to implement the projects that I was so passionate about. One of them was to organize a hackathon for the first time in Kosovo. 

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CoderGals poster

CoderGals Hackathon was initiated to enhance the presence of Girls/Women in the IT field, giving them a place and three days of work, code, ideas, activities and connections. We wanted to offer them a space where they could express themselves through technology.

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Qendresa presenting CoderGals

 

Over 70 Girls/Women from all around Kosovo applied to be part of the first hackathon, and due to space limitations, only 26 of them were selected.

Mentors and participants discussing about the projects

 

These girls would work in groups of five on open source projects, where most of these projects were part of Debian OS, with the help of one of the Software Engineers, Daniel Pocock.

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Daniel Pocock helping out the participants regarding the blogs and projects

 

I would invite each of you to spare a few minutes and take a look at these links where the girls posted the work they did during the Hackathon weekend. 

Mentoring and learning…

 

Presentations and coding

1

https://github.com/egzonar/PhoneClient

4

https://github.com/dhurataK/codergals

3

https://github.com/shejza/phonevideocall

5

https://github.com/vjosash/js-commmunicator-plugin

2

  • CoderGals hackathon lasted for three days on one of the oldest cinema in Prizren, which was lately renovated. During the first day the participants had a group work algonside the mentors, where they did choose the projects they were going to work on. 
  • After a two hour discussion, the groups were formed and the projects were decided.
  • The second day was all about coding and connections.
  • The third and the last day, was about presentations, gifts and wrapping up a three day full of fun.

I am so excited I got to meet such inspiring and hardworking girls during those three days, and I do believe that we all can work together so initiative like these will always be supported and students will have the opportunities they need to expand their mindset and achieve their dreams, especially in a small country like Kosovo, where you can find the same competitive people eager to learn, and improve their skills.

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